Chronicles of the Carnival Dream
by Ancient Text Scribe
Summary: The tale of the Seven and I VS the Hooded Figure will forever haunt me. The story, however, is not about the Hooded Figure, it is about the Seven, whole and virtuous and without taint, exactly as they were before the Carnival Dream.
1. Prologue

**Chronicles of the Carnival Dream: Prologue**

Before you begin I'd like to inform you that although these somewhat true events and somewhat real life characters have tragic ends, the growing bonds of friendship will never cease to continue throughout a lifetime beyond the page. I had made and lost some of the greatest friends I have ever known on the Carnival Dream. Although life is fruitless without those to care about life goes on and in spirit so will they.

The tale of the Seven and I VS the Hooded Figure will forever haunt me. The story, however, is not about the Hooded Figure, it is about the Seven, whole and virtuous and without taint, exactly as they were before the Carnival Dream. As I am the eighth and last remaining I hope my writing only offends a little in hopes that the fallen will appreciate my little jest. I only pray that they may smile one last time upon me as I spread their legend into a world of myth.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chronicles of the Carnival Dream: Chapter 1: Dreams…**

Knight took his first steps onto the Carnival Dream. It was the largest cruise ship he had ever entered and his mind raced with endless possibilities of what would happen to him on this week long vacation. He mostly thought of girls and how he looked forward to playing the chase game that so often did young adults use to fraternize with each other. But Knight wasn't quite an adult yet, in fact he even seemed a young boy to most. Sixteen years old but never letting a number get in his way of having fun. This ship would be his greatest adventure yet, or so he believed.

Nearly running off Knight took a moment to remember his parents who traveled up behind him. Stopping where he stood Knight turned around and glanced at his parents who were entranced by the enormity of the ship and all its wild and amazing colors. No doubt they were eager to drop Knight's younger brother Squire off with Knight in their cabin sweet, and then leave them two there for Knight to babysit as they ran off to gamble. Knight promised himself he would not let that happen.

Immediately the family of four headed up to the tenth level of the ship to enjoy the complimentary buffet that the cruise ship offered. Delicious and numerous meats along with a deli and an assortment of desserts lay before them. Knight didn't usually have such a sweet tooth but decided that since this was his vacation and a onetime experience he'd pig out on anything that the dessert buffet had to offer.

As Knight stood in the dessert line he looked around trying to catch the eye of any cute girl in sight. Unfortunately for him there were mostly older women and smelly men around. Glancing a moment to the other side of the restaurant he did notice a rather tall fellow using cheesy pick up lines on ever girl that passed him by.

"Hey did you feel that spark or should I walk by again?" the tall guy was kind of funny. "Did you fall from heaven 'cause you're face looks like shit!" At that one, the tall guy laughed hard at himself and Knight laughed quietly along with him.

People were getting annoyed with Knight holding up the line though so he hurried and grabbed one of nearly every dessert. Knight also grabbed a nice big mug of hot chocolate and went quickly back to his table. As he sat there with his armada of junk food Knight began to think about himself and what he was like. He was tall but not too tall, skinny but not boney, and ok looking, at least he liked to think so. He had his hair dyed blonde for the trip and kind of hoped that girls would think of him as an exotic, tan skinned, surfer, hot dude from California but looking around at some of the other guys he guessed it would take more than that to impress anyone. _Guess I'll just have to be charming._ He wasn't a ladies' man or super smart or funny, he was athletic but not a jock, he hoped that he could make some friends even without being that special. One thing that he did love doing was writing, he'd write about nearly anything he could make a story out of. And he could make a story about nearly everything, Knight felt thought that his one talent or at the least his one hobby would do him little good on this trip.

Knight now stared into his cup of hot chocolate, it was swirling like a whirlpool, and it felt like it was sucking him into the mug itself. _What the hell's going on? Why can't I talk? Why can't I scream? I can't even move!_ The swirling cup of chocolate had completely engulfed him but Knight was now struggling to fight the ocean's waves that were crashing against him. He felt himself sinking, he felt the waves dragging him under. Kicking as hard as he possibly could he began to surface. When he did he was in the bathtub of his cabin. Knight was shaking and coughing he no idea what the hell was going on. Just then he looked up and noticed a tall scrawny looking man wearing a black sweatshirt with the hood up so Knight couldn't see his face.

"Who the fuck are you? What the fuck is going on?" Knight was scared but he refused to let it project in his voice, he forced himself to sound brave.

"You think you're a hero?" said the hooded man who had a thick English accent.

Confused Knight replied, "umm no?"

"Wrong answer son!" The man pulled out a knife from his pocket and began to stab Knight in the stomach. Knight wanted to scream but he couldn't, the breath was knocked out of him with every blow and pierce. "Wrong answer son! Wrong answer son! Son! Son!"

"Son? Are you sleeping? Wake up the ship is moving."

The sound of his father's voice jolted Knight awake. His stomach ached he realized that he had ate nearly a plate of every dessert the ship offered; he also realized he was drenched in sweat. Breathing heavily he couldn't stop thinking about what he had just dreamt about. It seemed fake but the pain felt so real. _Probably the hot chocolate. And all that sugar._

"Knight are you alright?" His father sounded concerned, Knight must have looked as bad as he felt.

"I'm fine just a stomach ache," vacation had just begun and he didn't want to spoil it early with some stupid night terror.

"Are you sure son?" _Son! Son! Son!_ Began ringing in Knight's ears.

"Actually—"

"Quick!" Shouted his mother, "To the top we can't miss this. We need to instagram it."

Annoyed Knight said, "Mom you sound like every girl I've ever went to school with."

"Shut up smart-ass." Knight's mom said without breaking her polite posture, tone, or smile. Knight truly believed that someday he or his three year old brother would make their mother snap and she would go crazy and eat them all. Just _like Danny McBride did to James Franco in that one movie._

After the instagraming was all over Knight tried to ask a few strategic questions to his parents in order not to get dumped in their room all night this evening. "So guys you don't plan to dump me in the room with the baby all night right?" Knight chuckled at himself and smiled at his parents. They smiled back.

It was now eleven o'clock. Knight's parents had asked him to take his brother up to the room when he had begun crying quite viciously. They had said just to stay with him for fifteen minutes and they would be right up after they had paid for the meal. That was four hours ago and after the first hour was when Knight had realized you don't pay for a complimentary buffet dinner. Eventually Knight had managed to get Squire to stop crying and finally go to bed but he was enraged at his parent's deception of him on the very first day of the cruise. _Why couldn't they just have asked me?_ He kept silently screaming to himself. He sat on their room's balcony looking at the sunset and eventual night time on the sea.

Knight also gazed down at the many people walking way below his balcony. Noticing two gorgeous girls, one a blonde and one a brunette, he remembered how much he hated his parents for leaving him here.

"Freaking bastards I do like everything for them…" he complained. Not noticing a second ago Knight finally saw the two girls gazing back up at him. In a moment of panic and embarrassment Knight fell over in his chair and laid face up on the balcony floor. That was when he noticed that the girls had not actually been staring at him.

A couple floors above his own Knight watched as a scrawny figure dressed in a black hooded sweatshirt climb down through a window on a rope made of bed sheets. At first he thought it just a coincidence for there was absolutely no way that this man could be the one who had murdered Knight in his dream. It couldn't have been. But Knight instantly felt it in his gut that this was the same hooded figure. The same man.

The man slowly descended down toward Knight's room. He felt frozen, he couldn't move, he could barely breathe. _The man from my dreams has come to kill me. "Wrong answer son!"_ Knight thought he was doomed but all of a sudden the dark figure landed on the balcony above his and disappeared. Knight prayed to God that the strange man hadn't seen him, he also thanked God for his life, but it didn't matter now. There was a sound of glass breaking and Knight heard a woman screaming. He could feel himself sweating and shaking as he had in his dream. _Thank God I'm not in a bathtub._ Just then his parents burst in through the door.

"Whatcha doin' son?" asked his father?


	3. Chapter 2

**Chronicles of the Carnival Dream: Chapter 2: The Dynamic Duo**

"Say cheese!" The camera's flash went off and Kelsey felt herself blink.

"Oh wait no can we do that one again?"

"Seriously Kel I wanna go eat!" Lauren sounded desperate.

"I'm sorry just one more, ok? Really quick pose!" Kelsey threw up a peace sign with her two fingers and smiled but Lauren rolled her eyes and walked away. "Well jeez so much for the bff scrapbook."

"I'm sorry but you know I slept in and missed breakfast." Kelsey thought Lauren seemed like she was about to rip out all her long golden hair so she quickly grabbed her and headed up to the buffet on the tenth level.

Immediately the two girls were greeted with, "Hey pretty ladies are y'all from Tennessee 'cause—"

Kelsey flipped her long raven hair in the guys face then extended her middle finger up at him for good measure. As the two best friends walked away she said, "What a creep I really hope we don't bump into him again."

"I kind of enjoy all the dorks. At least they're trying." Lauren laughed.

"Honey they're dying. Or they're going to get themselves killed one of these days." Both girls jumped in the deli line and ordered sandwiches. Kelsey was looking around at all the boys in the buffet, she thought that most of them would probably try and hit on either her or Lauren at some point. She thought it wouldn't be very good if one of them turned out to be a real creep who tried to follow them home or something. Lauren was finally about to take her first bite when Kelsey thought of the most amazing plan, "Lauren wait. Idea." Kelsey said grabbing Lauren's hands. "Let's make up fake names for the entire trip. Fake ones so we can have alternate personas."

"Ok you think of some I'm going to eat." Lauren ripped her hands away to take a bite but Kelsey grabbed them again.

"I've already got one picked out." Kelsey felt pleased with herself and excited. It wasn't every week that you had the opportunity to completely make up who you are. "I'm going to be Robin."

"Sweet I'm Batman," replied Lauren.

"Come on this could be fun," Kelsey and Lauren had once lived in the same state in the same neighborhood together but times had changed and Kelsey had moved and now all she wanted was an unforgettable week with her best friend.

Lauren was now chewing a mouthful of her sandwich but continued to talk, "What? Don't like being the dynamic duo?"

"Ugh. You're no fun." Defeated Kelsey slumped back in her chair and looked out the window. The ship had begun to move. Kelsey smiled, she thought about her school and how she had to get ready for a life at college pretty soon, she thought about her cheerleading and how the daily practices were slowly killing her. She was glad she could leave all that stress behind with the treading water.

"Ok I'm sorry." Kelsey looked at Lauren in confusion, "I know Kel, it's been awhile since we've even spoke face to face and I know you're just trying to make the best of things. I've been in a bad mood just because I'm hungry. Look right after this sandwich we'll go find a hangout spot for the two of us okay?"

Kelsey loved her best friend; Lauren always knew what Kelsey was feeling and what to say to make her feel better. She already didn't want this week to end. "So are you going to pick out a name…?"

Lauren laughed out loud, "Alright fine! Since you're Robin I'll be Lily."

"Why Lilly?"

"You know because of How I Met Your Mother?" Lauren sounded a little concerned.

"What are you talking about I introduced you to my mother."

Lauren began laughing hysterically, "No stupid. How I Met Your Mother is a TV show."

Kelsey had never heard of it but decided to believe Lauren since she was probably telling the truth. Smiling Kelsey asked, "Ok so are we going to walk around or what?"

The sun had fallen and Kelsey had just spent the most amazing day with her best friend and her sister Reed. The three of them were now walking around the lower levels of the ship in search of a spot that they could call their own.

"Ok. Truth." Reed said to Lauren.

"Ever kissed a boy?" asked Lauren and she began giggling, Kelsey joined in.

"Umm eww no." Reed wasn't into boys. "Kelsey, truth or dare?"

"Umm dare?" Kelsey became a little nervous and hoped she hadn't pissed off her sister at all today.

"I dare you to pick truth." _Oh thank God._

"Fine truth." Kelsey said relieved.

"Who do you think was most attractive? The guy at the buffet using those god awful pick up lines. The one surfer looking guy who fell asleep on his dessert. Or the black guy with the bucket hat who was like break dancing with his earphones." Reed sounded proud of her question.

Kelsey didn't really find any of the guys attractive but just then she saw the same black guy that Reed had just been talking about up ahead in front of them. "Oh Reed go quick and say hi. And see if he wants to hang with us I dare you."

"Wait what? Why me?" Reed said aggravated.

"Because you're the only one who doesn't like boys. He'll think we're hitting on him." Kelsey knew she was right about that all guys usually did think wanting to be friends was the same thing as wanting to get laid.

"But you still haven't answered my question!"

"I don't know. Uh surfer dude—I don't care go quick!"

"Ok fine!" Reed stormed off. Kelsey was laughing like a little girl and turned to Lauren who hadn't said much in awhile.

Kelsey noticed that Lauren hadn't laughed or chimed in at all because she was too busy looking up. "Lauren what are you staring at?" Kelsey asked as she turned her head in the same direction. High above was a dark figure climbing down the ledges of the ships balcony.

"What the hell?" came a new voice that Kelsey wasn't familiar with. She would have glanced over if not for this strange spider like person high above. In an instance the man swung into a balcony and was gone. "Well that was really fucking weird," said the new voice. Kelsey glanced over, it was the kid with the bucket hat. "Hi I'm Nick. Nice to meet you…?"

Still a little amazed at what she had just seen Kelsey gave a half hearted, "Kelsey. How do you do?"

"Hi I'm Lauren." They both shook hands with Nick.

"Anyway Nick says he found a great abandoned lounge." Reed chimed in.

"Yeah it's called The Song," Nick said.

Not really paying attention Kelsey said, "What that's like the seventh or eighth floor? We could check that out." Kelsey thought this could be an adventure, and an adventure at this time of night would be the perfect way to start an unforgettable week.

"How about no? That guy looked freaky let's stay away from him." Lauren quickly spat out.

"You know what I've seen enough crazy for one night I'm going to bed." With that Reed speed off to the elevators.

"Aw you guys are such party poopers," Kelsey felt just as disappointed as she did earlier.

"Aw cheer up girl we'll throw our own party over at The Song right now if you want. Come on it's this way." Nick led the way and continued with, "So where are you all from ladies?"

Kelsey sighed but vowed to herself to make this the best cruise she will ever be on. _Maybe I'll go and take a look later tonight on my own._ But as she thought to herself she looked backed up and she saw on the balcony the black hooded figure taking his own look right back at her.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chronicles of the Carnival Dream: Chapter 3: The Chase**

There was a loud slap that Ethan heard from behind him. He turned around to look at his buddy Jacob who was going off every girl in sight with all the pickup lines he had memorized before leaving for the trip. Looks like the "falling from heaven one" finally got him a reaction. Ethan laughed as his old friend came over to sit by him he had a big red hand print on his face. It amazed Ethan that he a Jacob became friends, they were nearly polar opposites. Ethan was short and built with shaggy brown hair and a tough attitude, and he sounded like a city boy who had been in too many fights. Jacob was a tall, beefy, blond boy with a funny southern accent and a super outgoing attitude, he loved to make jokes and flirt with girls. However amusing Ethan found Jacob it was never easy for him to do the stuff that he wanted to do. Ethan just wasn't made for that, but he knew deep down that's why he valued Jacob's friendship so much, because it was another part of him teaching the rest of himself how to be kind and loving in a sense.

"I think she likes me," Jacob said as he sat down.

"You're such a moron," Ethan couldn't hold back his laughter hanging out with Jacob would usually mean an occasional slap in the face but the fun of it was always guaranteed. "So who was she?"

"I don't know just some girl. Hey you want to get outa here?"

"We haven't even eaten yet man."

"Well let's hurry and eat then. All the girls our age are hanging at the O2 club we got to grab one before they're all taken." Not that age had ever been a problem for Jacob really. Ethan was well aware of that, he had to stop bringing his mother around to say hi to them two whenever they hung out.

Ethan didn't feel like fighting with him, "Alright whenever the ship starts moving we'll go." On the plus side it was worth it to see Jacob get kicked around by any girl who had self dignity.

"The ship is moving right now," Jacob said with a grin.

Ethan looked out the window and sighed. The ship was moving _for fuck's sake._ "Alright fine let's go check out the club I hope someone else hits you so I don't have to."

"At a boy, ugly. Let's get outa here!" Jacob let out a _whoop_ and a _shout._ Ethan thought to himself that if Jacob ever called him ugly again he'd bitch slap him just as hard as any of those poor girls.

The two boys had spent a couple hours in the O2 club and it was night time outside now. Teenagers weren't exactly in Ethan's area of expertise, he thought of himself as a tough guy but mostly because he never got along with other guys. Girls were more his thing however there weren't many special ones around back where he lived. On this cruise he expected at least to make some new relationships that he could show off back at home. So far nothing had happened though, just Jacob making great first impressions with everyone including the girls which surprised Ethan.

"Hey man I think I'm gonna go up and hit the hay. We'll chill tomorrow 'kay?" He was bored and hated most the people around. Maybe tomorrow would bring a better experience.

"Wait what? You sure man I mean I could bail with ya." Ethan appreciated that but didn't want to take Jacob away from all the fun he was having.

"Nah bud I just ain't fealin' it today. I'll see you in the morning."

Walking off he heard Jacob say, "Alright fine but the ladies in here are lovin' us." _No just you Jacob. Just you, and that one isn't even a girl._

Ethan stepped in the elevator and hit the eighth floor button. As the doors began sliding close some boyish looking girl stepped in at the last second. "Thanks for holding the door guy. I appreciate it," she smiled at him.

"Yeah, no problem. What floor?"

"Eighth—or actually same one as you," she laughed.

Ethan smiled maybe he could finally make a friend, "Name's Ethan nice to meet you..." He stuck out his hand for her to shake.

"Oh I'm Reed. How do you do?" When the elevator hit the eighth floor the two walked out engaged in small talk. Ethan had asked her where she was from and what she was doing here and Reed asked him all the same things. It was the common banter that Ethan was used to but still it was something and he enjoyed it.

On the way down the hall, towards Ethan's cabin, Reed stopped and stood silent for a minute. "What is it Reed? Are you alright—"

"Wait shut up." Ethan did as he was told and he began to listen for whatever Reed was hearing. "Do you not hear that Ethan?"

"Hear what—" Ethan didn't have time to finish. Just then a cabin door not much farther behind from where Reed was standing flew open. A tall man dressed in a black hood and sweatshirt ran out of the room.

From inside the room Ethan heard an old woman shouting, "Help! Please someone?"

In a split second Ethan shouted the only thing he could think to do, "Go help the lady I'll catch the guy!" Knocking over Reed he ran straight down the hall after the hooded man. Feeling the adrenaline pumping through his veins Ethan began speeding and catching up to the mysterious fiend. But just then the hooded man threw open the door to the front deck of the ship and slammed it behind him. When Ethan tried to open the door after him he was surprised about how heavy it was _how the hell did he open it up so easily?_ Ethan got the sense that this guy might be really dangerous.

It was too late now. The door was open and Ethan stepped out on the deck. He saw the man in black standing at the other side, when he turned to face Ethan, Ethan slammed the door shut. The wind was howling and it made it hard to focus but Ethan didn't care he stuck up his fists and said, "Alright bring it you weird mother fuck—" Before he could finish the hooded man jumped over the ledge of the ship. Ethan ran to look, he noticed the deck below him wasn't that far down but the man had escaped. _Well shit…_

When he turned around to walk back inside, the black hooded figure was standing behind him. "How the fuck did you do that?" Ethan was horrified, he saw the pipe in the man's hand, he saw the pearly white teeth under his hood, he saw the pipe come up and swing. Then Ethan saw nothing…


	5. Chapter 4

**Chronicles of the Carnival Dream: Chapter 4: The Big Brother**

It had been a long night. Between his sisters bad attitude and finding that one kid who got attacked plus all the drinks he had taken illegally this was turning out to be a great week. Cooper was nineteen on a cruise ship where if you were over the age of seventeen and under the age of twenty one there was virtually nothing for you to do. It all started when he tried to walk into the O2 club.

"Hey ladies did y'all fall from heaven cause…" Was the first thing Cooper heard walking in. He was looking for his sister Lilly because his parents forced him to after she never showed up to lunch at the buffet. Cooper and Lilly weren't exactly very close, they lived with one parent at a time, switching homes every week and never seeing each other. Still he was very protective of her when he could be. Lately it seemed like she wanted nothing to do with him, the reason why is because their father left literally everything to Cooper in his will, he never even mentioned Lilly. It was supposed to be a big secret but the siblings found out easily and since then Lilly hasn't acted like a sister to Cooper. Still he promised himself that he would always treat her like her brother.

Cooper was a handsome, muscular, jock, he knew it but he was never a dick about it and he never let it go to his head. It was fun being like that in high school but here he noticed nearly every girl had their eyes on him, this was a problem of course because technically anything he would do with these girls would be considered rape. He just needed to find the one girl without eyes trained on him and go. It didn't take him long to find her.

"Hey babe if you ever want to chill with me out in the pool or something…" said some kid talking to Cooper's sister.

"Don't worry man I'll come hang out with you instead." Cooper said with a grin, "You ready to get grounded sis? All week?" Lilly rolled her eyes and walked away leaving Cooper and the guy in awkward silence. Cooper knew she would go straight to the room as to avoid any more anger from their scary mother.

"She skip out on the family photo or something?" Cooper just stared at the guy who was just flirting with his sister. "Whoa man I didn't mean to cause offense I just thought she was really pretty and all."

Cooper decided it probably wasn't the best thing to make enemies on the first day so he continued with, "I didn't mean to scare you man. I'm sorry. Cooper."

"Huh?"

"Names Cooper what's yours."

"Oh I'm Austin," they shook hands. "Professional smooth talker, player and hustler if you're looking to get things like drinks or something." Cooper didn't usually like guys who hit on his sister but he heard the word "drinks" and had a change of heart about Austin.

"Hell I could drink." Cooper and Austin laughed for a moment then headed off to the bar area.

"No I swear to God. We did right there in the sand by the river," Cooper was cracking Austin up with one of his crazy girl stories. "No bullshit."

"You two must've been sore after that." Cooper laughed out loud hysterically; the two were only on their second drink that Austin had bought with his fake ID but Cooper was already feeling buzzed.

The sun had completely gone and the bar area on the backside of the ship was nearly empty except for the few people in the pool. "So what Austin? Got any crazy stories." Cooper and Austin were fast friends which was extremely rare for Cooper who didn't really have any.

"Nah man not really. Just the ones where I nearly got caught," there was another uproar in laughter. "Hell I ain't never even really had a girlfriend to be honest."

"Why not?" Intrigued Cooper had to ask because Austin seemed like a party kind of guy who could get girls.

"Hey man I'm a solo rider. It's one done for me," Austin said.

"Guess that means shots are off for tonight." The new friends continued to talk for another hour about life back at home and all the girls who looked interested. Cooper didn't mind as much when Austin inquired about his sister only because he was a bit tipsy. He'd probably hit anyone who kissed her though, as long as he was sober.

A kid walked into the bar and pool area, Cooper only noticed because he tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey man have you seen a small guy named Ethan?"

"Who's asking?" Cooper asked feeling a little threatened for some reason.

"Jacob is asking. I saw you two down in the club earlier I decided I should at least check." This Jacob looked really worried.

"Nah man sorry I can't say that we have," Austin replied then took another sip.

Cooper had an odd sense of morality and at times he felt the need to do whatever felt right in his gut even if it meant leaving your drink behind. "Hey Jacob? Can we help you out at all?"

Jacob looked a little confused, "Uh yeah sure I guess."

"Alright cool. Where do we start?"

"Umm I guess you," he pointed at Austin, "you can check the sixth floor."

"Right guess I'm in this now. Better be fun though," Austin finished his drink and laughed, "Name's Austin by the way."

"And you, big guy, go check the seventh floor," he said pointing to Cooper. "I'll check the eighth. Let's rendezvous at this one club called The Song it's right above the O2 lounge."

Cooper was feeling excited for this little adventure, "Ok see you guys in a few."

Now on the seventh floor scanning around for this Ethan, Cooper was starting to feel a little bored. But he said he would help out so he would, _where the hell is Ethan. Where the hell is Ethan,_ kept running through his head. A small boy with a surfer look about him walked out of his cabin and turned to Cooper, "Hey do you have any idea where the O2 lounge is?"

"Yeah man it's on the fifth floor," Cooper replied.

"Hey thanks dude I'll see you around bro." The surfer dude walked off. _What a weird looking kid. Wait shit I gave him the wrong floor. Ah well he's gone now._

Cooper walked to the door at the end of the hall and stepped out to the front deck of the ship. Instantly as he stepped out he heard a loud, "Aw what the fuck happened?" It came from the above deck. Cooper walked up a small staircase and saw a kid sitting with his back up against the wall rubbing his forehead.

"Hey are you Ethan?" Was the first thing that popped into Coopers mind for some reason so he asked.

The kid looked pissed, "Yeah I'm Ethan. I'm also fine thanks for asking."

Cooper grinned, "Well you look like shit that's why I didn't ask." Ethan laughed.

"Oh man Reed! I need to see if she's alright." Ethan got up and headed for the door.

Feeling even more concerned Cooper chimed in, "Hold on where'd you see her last I'll help you."

Ethan opened the door and ran inside while shouting, "Thanks! Come on it's this way." What Cooper and Ethan found was a large group of crew members investigating what had happened. A boyish looking girl and Jacob ran out of the crowd to meet Cooper and Ethan.

"Ethan you're alright," Jacob said relieved.

"Hey Reed what happened?" Ethan asked.

"What happened to you?" Reed asked concerned.

"I got hit it doesn't matter."

"The old lady got robbed. Some dude stole all her jewelry," Jacob said it without sounding like it was a big deal.

Ethan immediately walked up to the crew members and shouted, "Hey! I saw him run that way," he pointed down the hall. Two crew members ran down that direction towards the door. "Come on I want to get out of here before they force me to answer a bunch of questions."

"But why?" Reed looked horrified.

"I'm on vacation I don't need this shit." Ethan said.

Jacob spoke up once again like it wasn't a big deal, "We could go to The Song and exchange stories there y'all."

"Perfect," Ethan said while walking away.

The whole time Cooper had just been listening, he was half drunk so that didn't help but he still tried. "Wait man aren't you hurt? You could have a concussion."

Ethan looked at him, "Well do you know a doctor?"

"No."

"How about a guy who could get drinks?"

Cooper smiled. _What a night,_ he thought, "Yeah sure I do."

"Well then to The Song. And someone get me a shot of whiskey and I'll be fine."


	6. Chapter 5

**Chronicles of the Carnival Dream: Chapter 5: The Song**

The ship was a lot larger than what Knight had expected. He was out of breath from running down to the stairs but he was so excited to finally be out of his cabin. Not to mention how relieved he was to be running away from the black dressed man he had dreamt about. Knight could run laps around the ship in excitement or terror but he really just wanted a cool place to kick back right now. The O2 club was probably on the other side of the ship so as soon as Knight got down the stairs he headed down that direction. Unfortunately the casino was blocking off any traffic from anyone under the age of eighteen, so Knight had to take the long way around on the outside deck of the fifth floor.

It was around eleven o'clock now and there were more stars than Knight had ever seen in his life growing up in the city. Noticing every sort of city folk admiring the night sky Knight took some time to do so as well.

As he leaned on the railing of the deck he heard someone say to him, "Beautiful isn't it?" It was a more high pitched southern tone that Knight had never heard before, when he looked over to see who had just spoken to him he noticed a tall scrawny freckled kid.

"Yeah it's great. I never see stars like this back at home." Knight replied but he immediately was a little turned off by this guy. The kid was dressed very sharply but wasn't very impressive looking.

"That's a shame. Where you from?" asked the tall kid.

"California."

"I've been there before," the kid had started chuckling at the mention of California; Knight wondered what was so funny.

"Yeah? Which part?" Knight watched the kid take a sip out of a wine glass. It probably was wine but he didn't look old enough to be drinking it legally.

"All the 'good' parts" laughed the tall kid who had made quotation marks with his hands as he spoke. "California is not worth all the hype. Its overrated and it don't beat Mississippi at all."

Knight didn't like this guy, "Is that where you're from, Mississippi?" Not that he really cared to know but Knight didn't want to be rude.

"Born and raised. What's your name boy?" he said throwing out his hand.

 _Boy? We're like the same age you jackass,_ "Knight. What's yours?"

"Winston," they shook hands, "that's an interesting name, 'Knight.' Who named you that?"

Knight held his breath for a moment, _this guy is annoying,_ "My mom."

"Why?"

"I don't know it's a cool name?" It was a question Knight got a lot but he never really knew the answer.

Winston looked unimpressed, almost as if he was unsatisfied with the answer but Knight honestly didn't need to tell him jack. "It's not that cool," Winston finally responded.

 _Sounds better than Winston, ass._ "Well I gotta jet dude. Adios."

"Where you going in such a rush anyway? Dinner's over." This time Winston sounded like he didn't want Knight to go.

 _It's none of your fucking business._ "Oh I'm just looking for the O2 club."

"Is that the one with all those kids?"

"Uh…yeah," Knight didn't even want to talk to this guy.

"I know where that is come on I'll show yah its right this way." Knight thought to himself, _I'm not your friend. I don't like you but I won't say anything because I don't want to be rude but seriously fuck this guy._ Winston ended up just bringing Knight to the other end of the ship where there was this lounge called the song.

"Hey man I don't think this it," it didn't say O2 anywhere.

"Sure it is man I saw a bunch of people hanging in here earlier, come on."

"That's kind of creepy dude," Knight mumbled under his breath.

"Huh?"

"I didn't say anything."

Kelsey liked this kid Nick. He was a cool guy, he was mostly a listener but whenever he spoke up he always had something funny to say. Besides that he showed her and Lauren the song lounge. This place was dope to Kelsey, it was completely empty besides the comfy couch and chairs and the karaoke machine. It was all hers and Lauren's thanks to Nick.

The three of them were playing a card game called Egyptian War it was discarding and slapping game where you had to collect all the cards by slapping them as fast as possible. It was very confusing but Kelsey was really good at it. Lauren was just as good but Nick was having trouble on figuring out what the hell was going on. Occasionally he would say something like, "That's some bullshit," or, "Fuck this game. I don't even want to play. Ok maybe one more round." Kelsey and Lauren would break down laughing.

They had found a chord in the karaoke machine where they could plug in their phones to play music. Nick put in his play list which was a bit more relaxed than Laurens which honestly hurt people's ears. Not Kelsey's of course but that was only because she was used to it. Earlier Nick had showed them the O2 lounge which was cool but it had to many loud teenagers who all had their mind set on hooking up which wasn't on either Lauren's or Kelsey's mind. Nick didn't seem like that either but Kelsey had thought to herself that he may just be that smooth. After all he did manage to snag two girls away in a private room.

Kelsey smiled to herself, the other two noticed. "What's so funny?" Lauren asked.

"Oh nothing just thinking about…" Kelsey was trying to think of something funny but nothing came to mind, "…that one time."

"Oh shit. Yeah I remember that one time," Nick said sarcastically, "with that thing that time that place."

Kelsey laughed, "Shut up Nick."

"Seriously this place is totally dead. What's so funny Kel?" Lauren sounded desperate for something else to do rather than cards.

Kelsey didn't really mean to but she said the first thing that came to mind, "Boys?"

Nick was laughing and shaking his head, "That is pretty funny but I don't get it."

"Well—" Kelsey was going to make up something stupid like boys are inferior but just then Reed and a group of boys walked in.

This group of people Cooper had found himself with wasn't usually the type he liked to hang around with but he decided it was better than having no click at all. Ethan was half his size so he didn't really pay attention to the tough guy act. Jacob hit on every girl in sight, even that Reed girl, which made Cooper laugh out loud but he decided that Jacob would actually be cool to chill with later when he was working his own pimp game. Cooper instantly liked Austin even though he went after his sister, plus he got him drinks. Cooper only wished there were more girls around that would have been a nice change of pace.

At this moment they were all headed down to the Song lounge. The group had almost left Austin behind but Cooper ran to get him, he always thought the worst thing to happen to anyone is thinking that you have a friend but not really. He made sure he found Austin before he left to go hang out with anyone else. Now on the way to the Song Cooper and the gang had entered the elevator and stumbled upon his sister Lilly who was with a tall brown haired girl.

As soon as the siblings locked eyes the elevator ride got real awkward. Jacob immediately started off with, "Hey ladies. I'm Jacob what's your name?"

"Madison," said the tall brown haired girl blushing.

Lilly turned to Jacob to reply but Cooper interjected, "This is my sister Lilly guys," Cooper put his arm around Lilly. "Yeah were family," He said staring right at Jacob, Cooper hoped he would get the message.

Jacob turned back to Madison, "So where are you from?" Just then the elevator dinged and the doors open.

As they walked out both Madison and Lilly pretended to not here Jacobs question. The group began to head the direction of the Song lounge when Lilly changed directions and went the opposite way. "Wait where you going sis?" Lilly just looked at Cooper, rolled her eyes and walked away. Madison smiled awkwardly and waved bye as she followed Lilly.

"What's her problem?" Reed asked.

Cooper watched her sister walk away, now that he thought about it she hadn't said a word to him since they got on this boat. _Guess money'll do that to yah,_ "I'll tell you guys later."

"The tall one is real cute," said Jacob.

Ethan spoke up finally, "Eh she seems like she's a bit of a bitch."

"Guys let's just get to the club already," Cooper didn't want to think about his sister anymore.

"Actually it's a lounge."

"Austin, you just know the best things to say don't you," Jacob laughed.

"Guys come on guys it's just around the corner," they all followed Reed down the hall into the Song.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chronicles of the Carnival Dream: Chapter 6: The Seven**

It was easy making friends. Not always but this one time it was. Knight also felt like he made an enemy but he didn't want to think about that.

Knight looked in the window of the Song, there were a bunch of kids that looked about his age in there but they looked like a big group of friends who already knew each other. "Hey Winston man this isn't the O2 club!"

Winston was also staring in the window, "Don't matter my friend you see that one hotty in there." _What the fuck? This guy is a total creeper._

"Yeah whatever dude I'm gonna go this is weird," Knight began to walk away.

Winston grabbed Knights wrist and said, "Hey wait man you see her though right?"

Knight felt freaked out by this guy and he wanted nothing to do with him at this point, "Yeah dude I saw her. Now let go of me!"

What happened next was something that Knight didn't expect; Winston grabbed Knight by the shirt and shoved him up against the wall. Then Knight felt himself being lifted slightly off the ground, for the first time in a long time Knight thought he was in trouble. He wasn't touching the ground on a moving cruise ship in the middle of the sea being attacked by a crazy wine drinking pervert.

Winston continued with, "That one is mine. You can have the other real pretty one. But you stay away from my girl. Do you hear me?" Knight didn't give shit about what Winston was saying but he also didn't want to get hurt. So he did the one thing he could think of, he head butted Winston in the face as hard as he could.

Winston dropped Knight and dropped to his knees in pain. Knight thanked God in that moment for all those self defense classes back at home, "Don't ever do that to me again!" He needed to make sure that Winston got the message that he couldn't be pushed around like that. But Winston wasn't making the kind of noise you'd expect someone to make if they had just been hit head butted in the face like that.

While hysterically laughing Winston said, "Man I like you. You are intense. I could roll with that." Winston looked up and his nose was gushing blood, "Are we cool now?" He said that so nonchalantly.

Knight was in disbelief, "What the hell is wrong with you man?" Just then a rather big guy, a tall black guy and one other guy who looked a little scary burst through the door from the Song.

"Hey you guys got some kind of problem?" The big one said.

Knight nearly froze in panic but Winston replied, "Nah man I just fell on my face." Winston smiled with bloody teeth and a bloody nose.

The three guys looked just as disgusted with Winston as Knight felt. Another one of the three, the black one, spoke up, "Umm we got some ice and towels inside if you need it."

"Yeah man thanks that'd be perfect." Winston started to make his way into the Song and Knight followed.

When he saw the other three stare at him funny he said, "Guys I don't even know. This guy is crazy he just attacked me." Knight made sure he was whispering so Winston couldn't hear. "Listen I'll explain later. Please I promise I'm normal." The three guys looked at each other and shrugged.

"Sure. Come on in."

"Thanks," Knight walked into the Song. It was a large lounge; it had couch and a bunch of tables and chairs, a liquor cabinet that was locked up, and a karaoke machine. "By the way I'm Knight."

"Ethan," said the short one.

The larger one smiled, "Cooper. Nice to meet you."

Knight laughed a little, "Yeah you to bro."

"I'm Nick," said the black one, Knight shook hands with all three, "Let me introduce you to the rest of the pack." Nick walked over to the other kids who were sitting on the couch, Knight followed. He pointed to a girl who was dressed like a tom boy, "This is my best girl, Reed."

"Hi Reed," said Knight.

"This here is my boy Austin," a quirky looking dude. "This lovely lass is Lauren," Knight recognized her from the window, she was lovely. "The tall guy with the funny mouth is Jacob," he was the one from the buffet with all the pickup lines. "And last but not least this is Kelsey," that was the girl Winston went crazy over.

Knight was about to shake her hand when he heard glass break behind him. He turned around and saw Winston standing over the sink at the bar with some ice on his nose. "Sorry," Winston said, "just knocked the cup over my bad."

Everyone was staring at Winston like he was crazy, mostly because he was probably. Knight broke the awkward silence with, "So where are you all from?" He sat down in one of the chairs opposite of the couch where Lauren and Kelsey were sitting. Jacob had taken a spot rather close to Lauren and the big guy Cooper to his seat right next to Kelsey as soon as Winston started to head over towards the group. _Well that leaves one free girl. Too bad she probably won't like me._

Cooper was the first to reply to Knight's question, "Well I'm from Mississippi, Jackson."

"Jackson Mississippi? Hey that's where I'm from," Winston laughed.

Knight noticed Cooper's worried expression and he laughed underneath his breath when Cooper said, "Oh I meant…Johnson not Jackson sorry my bad." The others giggled quietly as well. "Kelsey where are you from?" Winston went on.

Kelsey looked flustered and her face flushed red, "Oh well I used to live with Lauren in Florida—"

"She doesn't live there anymore," Knight guessed Jacob had read Laurens mind because obviously she didn't want Winston knowing where she lived. Then he saw Lauren mouth thank you to Jacob.

The awkwardness was really killing Knight so finally said, "So how do you all know each other?"

Ethan spoke up this time, "Funny story. We don't know each other so we're all on the same basic page as you."

"Yeah somehow I doubt that," the group laughed at Knight's sarcasm, "I'm mean to random strangers walk into a bar, one bloody the other handsome, I mean if I were you I'd be reaching for my gun or some shit." They all laughed some more.

Reed joked, "Who's the handsome one?"

"Definitely not Winston," Jacob mumbled and Lauren started laughing hysterically.

Ethan looked at Jacob, "Hey don't kid around to hard Jacob. You know all you got going for you is that mouth."

"'Cause it's so tasty looking, right?"

Austin cracked up and went, "No man because it's too big," everyone laughed.

"Hey guys Jacob can spit fire that'll work on any girl. I've only known him a couple hours and I can see that." Cooper grinned and fist bumped Jacob.

Knight seemed to be the only one who noticed Lauren say, "It would've worked on me," and she smiled to herself. _Oh horny teenagers. Hella messed._

The night went on for a couple more hours, the entire time everyone in the group cracked jokes and told stories from their lives. Jacob had pretty much locked down Lauren from the beginning so the rest of the guys focused on flirting with Kelsey except for Knight who knew he'd only embarrass himself. However she mostly seemed to be interested in Cooper which didn't really bother anyone, except for Winston from what Knight observed he seemed very grim whenever someone would make a pass at Kelsey.

Usually when Knight met new people they didn't really like him because of how awkward he was but this group accepted him quite quickly. They enjoyed his stories and laughed at his jokes and made jokes at all his failed attempts instead of making fun of him. As a whole the group had great chemistry with one another. All but Winston of course, he mostly brooded around.

It was nearly three o'clock and everyone was trying to come up with something new to do, "Go fish?" suggested Austin.

No one responded until Knight spoke up, "Hell to the nah. Who the fuck plays go fish?" Austin laughed.

"Well since they're my cards," Lauren pulled out her deck of cards, "I say we play mafia."

Jacob said, "That's a great idea."

Ethan shook his head, "Of course…"

"No, no let's play truth or dare." Kelsey got really excited just then.

Reed stood up, "Yeah that's my cue to go to bed."

"Aw Reed! Don't be such a party pooper," Nick sighed. Reed just laughed at him as she waved bye and left the room.

It was very quiet for another minute, "Kelsey truth or dare?" Winston sat up in his chair.

Instantly Cooper tried to defend Kelsey by saying, "Winston truth or dare?"

"I asked first," it wasn't hard to hear the agitation in Winston's voice.

"Come on man." Jacob spoke up probably to help out Cooper.

Winston's face turned to a reddish color, he was pissed, "Fine truth."

Sitting up in his seat Ethan joined in, "Don't be such a pussy Winston."

"I'm not!" Shouting now Winston shot up onto his feet. Ethan stood up to.

"You all really need to take a chill pill," Austin said.

Nick said in a very relaxed manner, "If you ain't such a pussy then just say dare man. There's no other way to prove it."

Winston looked furious, he was staring at Kelsey at first but then turned his gaze to Ethan who was challenging him but finally he turned to Nick and bent over to rest his hands on the table in front of him. "Fine. Dare."

It took a while but Knight finally mustered up the balls to say something, "I dare you to go to the lowest level of the ship where only ever the staff goes. Go down there and bring us back something that proves you were there."

"And it has to be good; nothing like a plate or some shit otherwise we won't believe you were there." Kelsey said as she looked over at Knight and grinned, as if to say _thank you_ or _good idea._ Knight Winked at her.

Winston stood up strait and nodded his head, without a word he turned around and ran out of the lounge towards the elevators. Knight looked at the seven kids left in the room, he was glad to think of them as friends. At least he hoped they were his friends now. _I know a good way to find out,_ "Let's get the fuck out of here before he gets back," Knight laughed.

Jacob grabbed Lauren's hand and shouted, "Everyone meet up at the buffet on the tenth level." They all scrambled to get out of the lounge splitting up to do so. Jacob in hand with Lauren ran off to the right of the ship. Kelsey ran up the nearest flight of stairs with Cooper following close behind her. Knight saw Ethan, Austin and Nick get in an open elevator and thought they'd leave without him but Nick stuck his foot in the door and Ethan said, "Hey Knight? Are you coming or what?"

Knight looked down and smiled to himself, he thought _yes! I got friends,_ "Yeah I'm coming, thanks." He walked in the elevator, Austin patted him on the back and Nick pressed the tenth floor.

"Yeah I'm coming, thanks." Winston watched Knight walk into the elevator and the elevator doors close. No one saw him standing there in the dark corner, not a single one of them noticed him just watching. Not even Kelsey…


	8. Chapter 7

**Chronicles of the Carnival Dream: Chapter 7: Days Gone By**

 **WARNING: Explicate content!**

 **P.S. I didn't write this one**

The first night ended with a walk around the top deck of the ship, Knight and his seven friends all had either a drink or an ice cream cone in their hand. They each told one last story of their lives and as the sun came up they all went their separate ways. Knight was the first to go to bed and when he woke up the next day he got quite the lecture from his parents.

It wasn't that he liked disobeying them it was just that he finally had people who would treat him like he was their equal, and they liked him to. His parents weren't evil or anything and by no means did they deserve such disobedient from their son. From that first night on Knight spent nearly all his time with his new friends.

Some days the guys would go run off and try to pick up girls who walked by them at the pool or in the O2 club. Most nights Knight and the seven would stay up late telling ghost stories and funny situations and play cards. One day the gang spent a whole day together at the pool towards the back of the ship, it was an amazing day because the adults would steer clear of all the teens and the younger kids would get chased off by Ethan and Cooper.

Knight was often on watch for Winston, he wasn't afraid of him but he felt the need to stay cautious of what he could do. After all they hadn't seen him at all since that first night. Knight took time to reflect on how lucky he was to be on this vacation every night. The only thing wrong with it was his dreams. Every night he would pray to dream a dream just as amazing as his time on the ship had been. To dream about Kelsey who he'd become smitten with or to dream about his friends living all together back in his home town where they could all go to school together. Those dreams never came.

Always nightmares, "You think you're a hero? Wrong answer son! Wrong answer son!" it always the same one, the one with the tall man dressed in black, with the thick British accent stabbing him with the same knife. Something did change about them one night. It used to be Knight would be lying in his bathtub but it had changed to the floor of a deck of the ship that he didn't recognize. The same figure with the same knife, only this time when he asked the fatal question something happened.

In the past whatever Knight had said it would never work, "Yes," or, "No," or, "Please just tell me what you want!" Knight would always end up dead. Until this particular night, on this night marked on the calendar two days left until they were home. This time when the knife came down Cooper was there to catch it.

As the knife came down Cooper grabbed the man's wrist, Cooper turned to Knight and said, "Run Knight! He's coming! Save them! Save him! It's a trap warn Jacob-" The man broke loose his grip and stabbed Cooper in the chest with his blade. Before Cooper collapsed he grabbed the man's hood and pulled it off. What was there was the face of a man whose skin had been burnt to char; there was nothing left but a monster.

Knight sat up in his bed, he was breathing fast and hard and he was drenched in sweat, "What the hell is happening?"

Jacob was having the best week of his life. Where he came from was a real small town in Tennessee which didn't really suit his bachelor type lifestyle, he hated it. But out on the sea he met people he only believed existed in movies that ranged from beautiful girls who looked liked models, and wild surfer dudes who lived on the edge of life all the time. It amazed him to meet new people but the girls were the icing on the cake. Jacob liked girls; anyone who knew him knew that. Much to Jacob's delight, girls liked him to, and he knew just how to talk to them.

Since he first got on the boat he didn't have much success, all his pickup lines he realized impressed guys more than girls, so he tried being a little more normal instead. When he walked into the O2 club he started normal conversations with as many hot girls as he could, success. He got numbers and social media and probably would have got some also if Ethan hadn't gone missing from their room. Jacob had ran back up to grab a condom and Ethan wasn't there which only concerned Jacob because he knew that his buddy was a very straight forward person. If Ethan said he was going to do something he would do it. Although Jacob had plans with a gorgeous girl named Payton he couldn't stop thinking about, "bros before hoes," _Ethan would do it for me._ After he found Ethan later that night he thought about going to find Payton and apologizing but then he met her.

Every girl was different, to Jacob every one of them was beautiful in their own way, that's just how he thought, and even though most of his guy friends thought he was a total prayer most of Jacob's ex's thought he was the sweetest gentleman. However it always threw them off because things never lasted long, which made being on a cruise that much sweeter, Jacob didn't have to be with any girl for longer than a day because he'd never see them again. But when he met Lauren he felt something different. He liked this girl, he really liked her, that first night he met her he watched the sun rise with her.

She was beautiful, the most beautiful girl he had ever met before. The very first time he looked in her eyes something inside of him felt strange, it felt nice and so he went for it. Conversation between them went on for a long time when they were waiting for the sunrise. "It's an amazing sight isn't it?"

Jacob knew what to say to get him laid sooner rather than later but for the first time in his life he felt like he should try something different, "Yeah it is," he said staring at her. After she laughed at him for being so cheesy and such a flirt he leaned in for a kiss. And instead of it being wild and daring it was short simple and kind of sweet. Then he went to bed, the only thing he could think about was how he met the girl of his dreams and it was only the first night.

The days that came later came with other girls, each one wanted him just as bad as Payton did but Jacob never acted on it because he just wanted to spend time with Lauren. Of course he spent the day with the rest of the day with the rest of the seven but nearly every night he found time to sneak off with Lauren to be alone, they never did anything besides little pecks on the lips but one day when they realized that there was only two nights left on the ship that changed.

Jacob was supposed to meet up with Ethan tonight but Ethan never showed up to the Song. Fortunately for Jacob the Song was empty except for him and Lauren. It must have been because of the last two nights beginning tonight that Lauren started kissing him a bit more passionately. For the first time she was also getting kind of handsy, "Are you sure you want to do this?" Jacob asked.

Lauren stared at him like he was crazy, "You're kidding right? You're the guy you're supposed to be leading but I'm doing all the work."

"Alright, darling. Fine. I just didn't know if the Song was the best place to do this."

"Don't be such a bitch Jacob." The making out began once again and was about to escalate very fast if the old married couple hadn't walked in.

"Damn," said Jacob, "You know what everyone is at that big fancy ball tonight let's go to my room."

"Alright." The couple ran past the two old people and straight to the elevator. As soon as the doors were open they sprinted to Jacob's room. He knew no one would be here, at least not his parents, because the night was still very young and everyone had been invited to a ball on the third deck with dancing and food and everything awesome. The entire floor made for that one big event but Jacob wouldn't miss it for this.

His door was open, they walked in and as soon as Lauren closed the door behind her Jacob picked her up and she wrapped her legs around him and he shoved her up against it. She kissed him and slid her tongue into his mouth. She tasted like strawberries. He carried her over to the bed and began kissing her down the neck then down her chest and stomach until he finally got to her thighs. At first he kissed the top of her thighs but when he moved in and up she began to moan, "Jacob wait," she pleaded but it was too late he already began to taste her. She yelled out in pleasure and when Jacob thought he was done she wrapped her legs around his head to stop him. She finally released him when she had reached her orgasm, Jacob was a little disappointed but she turned over onto her stomach for him. Jacob slid himself inside her in doggy style position and began to work. He moved in and out slow at first but eventually building up speed. Things got wild; Lauren smacked her head into the wall in front of her before he finally burst. Jacob fell onto his back and she rested her head on his chest and said, "That was great."

"Yeah I know."

 **Thanks for the sex scene Jacob**

With only two nights left on the ship Ethan was growing a little desperate. He had met this girl a couple days earlier and he really liked her, she invited him to dance with her at the ball tonight and he really wanted to see her. However he had promise Jacob that they would meet up first then later with Austin, Knight and Nick and go clubbing in the O2 club. _Bros before hoes Jacob would do it for me,_ he kept trying to tell himself, but honestly Madison was really hot. Not the same Madison he had met earlier that week, this one was actually a head shorter than Ethan and much lovelier. Ethan finally decided to screw it and get dressed for the ball since Jacob was getting all the girls this week anyway. He then thought about the other three guys, Nick was the coolest guy ever and also the nicest, if he ditched him Ethan would feel like a total douche. Austin was the best kind of guy to have around, he knew everybody and everyone owed him a favor plus he could get drinks, what would happen if Ethan ditched him? Knight had gone crazy earlier today screaming at Ethan about how someone was going to die and they needed to protect them. If it hadn't been for Madison who had the magic power of calming the raging beast inside of Ethan, Knight would have had a broken nose. Of course Ethan was only trying to protect his girl from a mad man.

 _Fuck it I'm not losing this girl._ The first few days on the ship Ethan spent with his seven friends, two of those friends were girls and both were obviously taken. At least Lauren was, she was happy to be taken by Jacob as well; Cooper and Knight were fighting over Kelsey but not literally. Nick had himself nearly every girl in the O2 club, maybe it was because of how stoic he was it made him intriguing to all the hot girls who were surrounded with admirers. Austin was secretly going after Cooper's sister and succeeding but Ethan had no one. At least not until he met Madison. He had nearly gotten into another fight with a guy who got to drunk and started getting really touchy with some girls including Kelsey and Lauren. When Ethan stepped in most of the girls got out of there but Madison had grabbed him and touched his chest, "If you're better than him then you shouldn't have to prove it," she had said to him. "I'm fine we're fine you can leave this alone no one will care about what happens if you don't." Later she admitted that that wasn't true and that night they kissed.

It hadn't been a real ongoing thing between him and Madison, she had guys all over her so Ethan tried to be real cool and Stoic like Nick. "Dude you made the worst mistake of your life," Nick said to Ethan, "that girl has her pick of the crop. You're supposed to go after her." Nick had put his hand on his forehead and crossed his eyes to let Ethan know what a dumb jerk he was being.

"Well Nick, here is me goin' after her," Ethan said to himself as he put on his bow tie. Ethan ran out of his room completely ready for his fancy dance with Madison but as soon as he got out of the door he ran right into Austin. "Aw what the hell man I just got pretty."

Austin laughed and said; "Well no shit man me too," Ethan helped Austin up off the ground.

"Well who are you pretty for?" Ethan already knew the answer but he wanted to hear it anyway.

Austin grinned as he turned a little red, "Uh you remember Cooper's sister Lilly? Before you say anything I know she came across as kind of a bitch at first but she's actually really sweet and funny and man I—"

"Relax Austin I know you and Cooper are tight I won't say anything." Ethan patted Austin's shoulder.

"Hey thank you brother I appreciate that."

"Come on man let's go find our girls." The two walked down to the third floor and stepped into the big ball room are. There was a mini food buffet off to the right corner and some tables off in the left corner the rest of the room was a giant dance floor. Ethan looked up and saw a giant chandelier hanging above them, this room was beautiful.

Before he looked back down he felt someone grab his arm, he looked down and found Madison gazing back up at him. "You ready to dance handsome."

His face felt flushed and red, "Uh well—" he didn't have time to respond she pulled him out onto the dance floor and put his hands on her hips and she wrapped his around his neck. When they spun and he saw Austin, Austin gave him a wink then Ethan saw him walk over to Lilly. Ethan looked back down at Madison, "I've never done this before."

She smiled at him, "Don't worry hot head just follow my lead," she planted a kiss on his lips and the light seemed to engulf them as they were the first two to lead the dances.

The date had been wonderful, awful, exciting and tragic all at the same time. When Kelsey had first met Cooper she was bewitched with his good looks and charming personality. She was so relieved to hear that the feeling was mutual and she was eager to finally go on an official date with him since there were only two nights left on the cruise.

The reason it had taken so long for anything to happen between them was because both Cooper and Knight showed a lot of interest in Kelsey. So far in the past week both of them had been impressing, or at least trying to impress, Kelsey in many different ways. Cooper was strong and sweet and gentle, a generally safe person to be around which comforted Kelsey. Knight was a bit more wild and daring, he was always off to try something new and he always had an adventure tied into his day which Kelsey loved. Although what made Cooper the more obvious and easy choice to make was he didn't have a problem openly expressing his liking for Kelsey. He wasn't afraid to chase her and do anything to catch her eye. Knight was very reserved when it came to anything like that; he was a lot more sensitive than Cooper which probably meant drama which Kelsey was trying to steer away from.

One night Cooper had asked Kelsey out in front of the rest of their friends, he had a red rose for her and a box of chocolates which was typical and cheesy but Kelsey liked his confidence and how sweet he was about it. Before she had said yes however she quickly glanced at Knight who wouldn't look at the scene that was happening in front of him. So she quickly accepted Cooper's offer and hadn't spoken to Knight since.

That was about a day and a half prior to this date, which on a weeklong cruise counts for a long time and Kelsey didn't think much of Knight. That is until she found the white rose outside her cabin door it had a small silver bracelet and a card saying something stupid like _forever together, always apart._ She assumed it was from Knight even though it really wasn't his style but it had been bothering her the entire time. Kelsey felt awful that she had to choose between two people, she also felt angry that Knight just couldn't leave her the fuck alone. He was a weird guy _but it was such a cute bracelet!_ Honestly she didn't care much for boys, she knew they were only after one thing _fuck 'em._

Cooper had paid some staff members to set up a table on the top deck with a view of the sunset for a small dinner before the ball. "So is this romantic enough?"

"Honestly Cooper," he looked shocked at that moment, "this is amazing," he let out a sigh of relief. "It might actually be too good I'm starting to feel like a chick that's gonna give me issues," the two of them laughed together then turned to watch the sun set finally.

Cooper stood up and offered his hand to Kelsey, "Would you like to accompany me to the ball miss?"

No she didn't. Not because she didn't like Cooper because she didn't want to see Knight there, _that would be awkward as fuck._ "Do you want to walk around a little bit first? Just around the deck then we can go?"

Shrugging his shoulders Cooper said, "Of course. Anything you'd like I'm there." Kelsey smiled and took his hand. They walked around the ship for about an hour until they finally stopped to stand at the back of the ship overlooking the ocean. Cooper looked so adorable in this light Kelsey couldn't resist the urge to lean in for the kiss.

It was nice, actually it was really nice, they took a moment but when they leaned back in for another both their phones began to blow up with notifications. "We've got signal?" Kelsey said in amazement. "It's a little early for that." Kelsey began scanning over all the texts she literally just got from Lauren. _Something amazing just happened to me and Jacob we need to talk now! ASAP! In the Song! Alone and in private_ _J_ "Umm Cooper I'm really sorry I have to go find Lauren."

Cooper looked sad for a brief second but that optimistic smile came back in an instant, "Oh yeah? Uh that's no problem I'll see you later. I should be getting back to the family anyways."

"I'm really sorry Coop," she kissed him again; "I'll find you later." In truth Kelsey felt a little relieved to be walking away. She liked Cooper and he was really sweet but all guys wanted one thing or so she believed. _Even Cooper even Knight._

Elevator rides were awkward especially when you were riding it with the first guy you've ever had sex with. Lauren glanced over at Jacob for a second then quickly turned back to face the doors. When they opened up Jacob said, "So I'll talk to you later?"

"Yes we will Talk. Talk not anything else." She finally stared at Jacob eye to eye, he nodded and they did an awkward sort of hug. Lauren stepped out onto the tenth deck; she really just wanted some food before she went to see Kelsey. On her way to the buffet she bumped into Cooper.

"Oh hey Lauren Kelsey just ran off looking for you."

Lauren gave Cooper a suspicious grin, "So how was your date?"

Cooper blushed, "Really great, we kissed."

That was a little hard for Kelsey to believe, "That's it?"

He blinked, "Yep."

"Ok then." Lauren began to walk away when Cooper grabbed her shoulder.

"Wait I need to ask you something if that's ok."

Lauren's stomach grumbled, "Yeah sure what is it." The two of them walked out by the end of the pool.

"Ok look I really like Kelsey she's amazing but I feel like she was really distant tonight. So am I—" he stopped short.

"What is it?" Lauren was a little spooked at the look Cooper had on his face; it was a defensive, fighter look about him. He wasn't looking at her; he was staring across the pool.

"Get behind me he said in a deep, low threatening voice." Lauren did as she was told; she gazed across the pool as well.

At the other end of the pool stood a tall man dressed in a black sweat shirt and hood. He was holding a knife and staring right at them.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chronicles of the Carnival Dream: Chapter 8: Last Light**

The lights blackened out. It was all darkness in this place where Cooper now stood. He reached behind and held Lauren's hand, his eyes scanned around the pool for the figure but he couldn't see anything yet.

Earlier that week Cooper had been on a lower deck looking through a bunch of photos taken when he first got on. Since he was shopping with Kelsey he took the time to get to know her as well as he could in his week long time span. They even took photos together and laughed at how silly they had made themselves look. The two of them had gone to get ice cream together and even went swimming in a pool that was secreted away in the ships spa. Every moment seemed perfect with her around.

Austin was Cooper's favorite to hang out with, they were the same age, they laughed at the same things, and he bought him drinks so what was there not to like? On this particular day Cooper had a serious question to ask Austin, "So what's up with you and my sister man?"

The look on Austin's face was quite funny to look at, "Uh yeah um well I think you got this all wrong man. Nothing is up. Especially my…never mind."

If there was any real problem with the relationship Cooper's sister and Austin had it would be that a week is not enough time to get to know someone that well. However he was doing the same thing with Kelsey so he decided to let it slide. "Don't try to hide it from me man. She doesn't need to have said a word to me to find out. I've seen you guys and I wanted to tell you to just be cool."

Austin winced, "What?"

Sighing Cooper said, "Look she's my sister so I'll be worried no matter what but I like you and you're a cool guy so just…be cool."

Austin let out a breath of relief, "Ok thank God man I thought you'd be pissed."

Cooper grinned, "Nah man, I'm too cool for that," the two buddies laughed, clicked there drinks together and took a sip.

Usually Cooper didn't hang around people like Jacob, the typical funny, ladies man type character. It just wasn't Cooper's thing _trying_ to pick up girls; usually girls would go after Cooper and try to pick him up. But he learned from Jacob that the chase was a lot more satisfying than being chased after. "You are such a chick," Jacob laughed at Cooper when he had explained all that.

"I'm sure girls like how understanding I am, Jacob."

Jacob ran his hand through his hair as some cute girls walked by, "I think girls just like to look at you, but I'm not sure why?" They laughed together.

"Speaking of girls, what about you and Lauren?" Everyone knew that they were a thing but neither of them would spill any detail about the relationship.

Jacob blushed, "I got no idea what you're talking about," he grinned and looked away.

Although the answer didn't satisfy Cooper in the slightest he decided not to push the issue any further. Let them have their fun and try to enjoy his own is what he thought to himself.

No one likes being the third wheel, not even Cooper but Ethan needed the help. At first Cooper had to be a little stand offish with Ethan because of his weird Napoleon complex but after he saw his fatal attempts at flirting he realized he'd be better at helping him instead.

"Don't be nervous Ethan. Just go walk out there and dance with her." Cooper was staring at Madison out on the dance floor, that girl had moves.

Ethan's arms were crossed he looked angry, but he always did, "I don't dance." As she was dancing Madison turned her head towards Ethan and winked at him.

At that moment Cooper thought of the perfect thing to do, "Fine. If you won't I will." Cooper walked out to the dance floor.

He heard Ethan shout out, "You what? Ass!" even though Madison was looking at Cooper walking toward her another guy jumped in front of her. That surprised Cooper since the guy was half his size but what surprised him even more was when Ethan ran passed him grabbed the new guy by the shoulder spun him around and punched him in the jaw so hard he fell over. Now that Cooper thought about what had just happened it really wasn't that surprising.

Cooper grabbed Ethan's wrist and looked at Madison, "He'll be on the tenth deck of the ship tomorrow at twelve waiting for you. Ethan you some bitch that was hilarious but now we have to go." While laughing his ass off Cooper dragged Ethan along as they got the hell out of the O2 club.

"This will be a funny story to tell the gang." Ethan remarked.

"Yeah, _hella_ funny, as Knight would say."

 _I have a date tonight_ Cooper thought to himself in disbelief. _I have a date tonight with Kelsey_ it was the strangest feeling being this nervous because Cooper never felt nervous. He guessed he only felt this way because he never really ever had to try to impress a girl. It was always so easy and so natural but with Kelsey he had to think and understand which wasn't hard it was just different. Right now he had the difficult decision to make of which flowers he should get, to help him he brought Knight.

"Don't think to elaborate," Knight said, "She'll like the simple, sweet stuff."

"How do you know all this?" Cooper was aware of Knight's virginity and his lack of girlfriends so how he was so good at making impressions was beyond him.

Knight rubbed the back of his head, "I guess I just watch a lot of movies," he said uncertainly.

Cooper shrugged his shoulders and then realized, "I have no idea what I'm going to do tonight. I don't even have a plan I just…"

"Hey relax bud I got you. I get a good friend who's a crew mate; he can set something up for you." Knight's offer sounded too good to be true.

"No catch right?" Cooper asked.

Knight smiled, "Dude, of course not."

"Thanks man, how can I repay you?" Cooper was willing to do anything at this point.

Knight looked around and picked up two roses, one red and one white, "Here," he handed them to Cooper, "Give her these I'll talk to Greg."

Cooper was confused on why Knight was being so cooperative with this whole thing. When it occurred to him that Knight probably had feelings for Kelsey also he thought of a plan to repay him. "Got any poetry to go with it," Cooper knew he would.

Knight looked surprised, "Actually yes. Well it's something like that." He handed Cooper a bracelet with a little poem engraved on it. _Always apart but forever together, for your heart forever remember._ Is what it said.

Later that night Cooper left the white rose with the bracelet and Knight's name on it. _At least she'll know, it's the least I can do._

The dark figure had come out from behind them neither Lauren nor Cooper saw him coming. The figure pulled out a knife and lunged at Cooper but he jumped out of the way and punched the hooded man in the face. Cooper was circling and facing off with the figure now, in his rough English accent the man said, "You should of just left her. She is mine."

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about but you need to calm down. If you murder me you won't get away with it. The police will get you before you get off this boat no matter what." Cooper tried to sound as threatening as possible but in truth he was terrified.

In an instant, Cooper never even saw her coming; Lauren jumped on the man's back and bit his ear. He roared in pain but managed to get a hold of her and throw her away from him. Cooper took the opportunity to rush the guy. He tried to push him in the pool but the tall scrawny guy was much stronger than he looked. Cooper couldn't even tackle him, now he was holding the villains wrist and keeping the knife at bay from his stomach. "You should have just left her alone," the tall man head butted Cooper.

He felt disoriented, everything was blurry and his nose was gushing blood, Cooper started swinging his fists wildly. His efforts failed when he felt the knife enter his gut mid swing. It felt like the air had been knocked out of him, Cooper wasn't even able to scream. He heard Lauren scream out his name but then he felt himself fall backwards into the pool. The last thing he saw was Lauren being dragged away by the hooded man then the water flooded over his eyes and the rest of his body as he sunk to the bottom of the pool.

 _Please God,_ Cooper had never been this scared before but now it didn't matter. He saw the very last light he'd ever see as everything went to darkness.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chronicles of the Carnival Dream: Chapter 9: It's a trap…**

Knight and Nick had to use all their strength to drag Cooper out of the pool. Both of them had vomited at least once while doing this. "Where the hell is everyone?" Knight shouted out, the deck was literally empty and he couldn't phantom why. Where was the crew? Where was Jacob?

Knight was having a secret drink with Nick that Austin had provided, he was freaking out about his dreams and he also became depressed when he heard about Kelsey's date. At first he tried to convince his friends that his dreams were a warning but after Ethan had nearly punched him for it he decided to just try and ignore it. They were just dreams after all. But thankfully Nick was a good listener. So even after the almost incident with Ethan and even after Knight found out about Kelsey and Cooper, Knight had someone to vent with.

The plan Knight had constructed was to go to the gala tonight but Knight's parents had dropped the baby on him once again and Knight once again was trapped in his room. While he was there he had time to think about what his dreams meant. Unfortunately he made zero progress on that. When his parents finally got back he went out to find anyone who wasn't still partying at the gala but most people still were. Knight strolled around the ship and when he had reached the tenth level he heard a familiar voice.

These voices didn't stand out because they were friendly ones; Knight recognized one from his dreams. It was the same thick English accent that the hooded man spoke with right before he killed Knight in his sleep. But where was it coming from? Knight stood as still as possible he didn't even breathe, he heard the voice speaking softly somewhere in the distance.

"I see you…I see you," it was a hushed whisper that was nearly lost to Knight every time he took a step.

A bead of sweat Knight found falling from his forehead, "Where are you?" he asked softly.

The voice sounded louder as Knight got closer to the front of the ship, "I won't forget this ever." Knight realized that the reason why this voice was so hard to pick up was because the wind was distorting the sound on this level of the ship. Somewhere secret the owner of the voice was on this deck. Watching him or watching someone.

"Knight?" Knight nearly jumped when heard Nick's voice come from behind him. He spun around and found Nick with a tall raven haired girl on his arm and next to them Jacob who was looking a little sick. "You alright man?"

His heart was pounding in his chest, he was not alright, "I'm great. Just kinda…" he couldn't think of an excuse.

"It's 'cause of Kelsey and Cooper right?" Jacob said, "We just saw them totally making out," Jacob grinned like it was something funny that Knight wanted to hear.

Looking down Knight sighed, "Yeah thanks buddy that's it."

Nick was shaking his head at Jacob, "Come on Knight. Austin got us some drinks let's go have fun." The tall girl on Nick's arm gave a little squeal, she was hot but Knight already didn't like her.

"Yeah let's go celebrate someplace else," Jacob was looking past Knight and he looked really nervous. When Knight turned to see what he was looking at he saw Lauren and she was looking just as bad as Jacob. When Knight turned back to look at Jacob, Jacob was already walking towards the elevator, "Let's go to the song!" _What the fuck's up with those two?_

When the crew of four got to the Song Kelsey was sitting on one of the couches looking like she was waiting for someone, "Oh hey guys what's up?" Before she could see him Knight ducked around the door outside of the club.

Nick stopped and stared at Knight like he was thinking, "What the fuck are you doing."

Knight gave him a look like, "What do you think?"

Nick's date went on to say, "Hey Kelsey how was your date?" as she walked in and sat next to her.

Nick looked back at Knight and shrugged, _I think he got the message._ Nick continued with, "You know what I forgot something on the tenth deck I got to grab it real quick."

Kelsey said, "Ok. Me and Payton will just wait for Lauren and you here then."

Jacob squeaked for a second, "Lauren is coming?" Kelsey nodded her head and Jacob turned around and sped off upstairs.

Looking back and forth at where Jacob had just been to where he had went Nick said quietly, "I'll be right back." Knight stealthily followed behind him. They took sips of the drinks they had on the way upstairs, "Look dude she's just a girl and you're gonna have to grow some balls pretty soon and just accept the choice she made. And plus we're all cool and even Cooper's cool with you to you don't want to ruin that."

"I know dude, it still hella sucks though."

"Hey man just relax you got at least one more night to get laid," Nick laughed, "Let's go get you drunk and go hunt for some desperate chicks."

Knight threw back his head and laughed, "Shit man. What about that tall girl? You hit that?"

Nick raised an eyebrow, "Hey man, me and her is me and her." Knight was disappointed for a second, "Just kidding man hell yeah I am." The duo laughed a lot until they opened the door to the tenth deck.

What they saw was Jacob standing over the pool, looking at the floating dead body of their friend Cooper. Jacob turned his head to look at them, "The hooded man, the tall guy. He—he took Lauren." The look on Jacob's face was absolute horror, his voice was the least confident that Knight had ever heard him. With shaky breaths Jacob went on, "I have to go get her."

Nick took a step forward and tried to put a hand on Jacob's shoulder, his voice was just as shaky, "Listen brother—"

Jacob screamed at them two, "No! I have to go get her!" And Jacob ran into the doors on the other side of the deck without another word. What terrified Knight the most about that was the hallway at the other end of the ship was pitch black. Not a single light.

Nick jumped into the water and scrambled after Cooper's body, "Knight we have to get him out."

Knight wasn't listening, _what the fuck is going on? Where are all the crew members? Why is the power out on that side?_ The real trouble that Knight couldn't stop thinking about was that his dream was real, he could have stopped this but e was too busy thinking about a girl and now his friend was dead. He felt his body shaking, everything felt cold.

"Knight," Knight looked down at Nick in the pool, "we have to get him out of here!"

What was Nick talking about? "Nick, we have to get help, we have to go stop Jacob he's running into a trap or something."

"Knight if we leave him here he'll drown." Knight Jumped into the water and tried to grab Nick.

"Nick he's dead," Knight suddenly felt himself break with tears and a sobbing voice; "he's gone this isn't helping."

Nick pushed Knight away and grabbed at Cooper again, "No! He can't be—" Nick turned around and puked, Knight did the same. "We can't just leave him in here." Nick was now sobbing as well. Knight took a hold of Cooper's body and together he and Nick pulled Cooper out of the pool.

Knight and Nick sat next to Cooper's body and Knight put a hand on Nick's shoulder, "We need to go get somebody."

Nick shook his head, "I can't leave him here man. It ain't right."

"Then wait here, I'll be back soon." Knight said a silent prayer to god and walked downstairs at first looking for a crew member to tell about the horrible image. But as he walked downstairs he found himself walking towards the Song lounge, he wasn't sure why.

Kelsey ran up towards him, "Knight did you see them?"

Knight looked at her, "See what?"

"All the crew members they were all running somewhere towards the gala." She paused a moment and scanned him up and down, "Why are you wet? Where are Nick and Jacob?"

Knight fell to his knees and he felt tears water his eyes, "I have to tell you something," he said.

Ethan looked out the thick glass door and watched all the crew members running towards the lower back of the ship. "Everyone please remain calm and try to enjoy the rest of this evening. We are having a slight fire hazard issue on a lower deck it's nothing to be worried about." _Yeah that's why you locked us in here and the entire crew is running down there._

Ethan had let Madison rejoin her family when things got crazy, and decided to go and check up on Austin and his date. Last he saw them they had walked into the bathroom. _There is no way in hell._ Ethan walked into the bathroom and saw a stream of blood, Lilly was nowhere to be seen but Austin was sitting in a pull of blood at the end of the bathroom with a knife in his belly.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chronicles of the Carnival Dream: Chapter 10: The Woman in Black**

Austin had never had much luck with girls but with this girl, Lilly, it felt like a plan from up above like it was fate. That was until she said, "I'm feeling sick I'll be right back." She ran from the dance floor and into the bathroom. It sucked Austin thought but at least he made it here with a girl. He looked around the room; he had sat down at one of the dining tables to wait for her return.

"Everyone please remain calm and continue to enjoy the rest of the party tonight, we have a small situation that requires minimal staff attention there is no need to worry, thank you." Naturally this confused Austin when he saw through the glass doors many crew members running down the hall and down the stairs to a lower deck. Austin attempted to sneak out and see what was going on but the door was locked. People all around the room noticed that each and every door of the gigantic dining room was locked. The crew members tried to swipe there cards on the automated secure door locks but the lights on the locks turned red.

His breaths came a little harder and faster and Austin felt himself panicking. Lilly was the first thing that came to his mind, where she was and what was happening to her and if she was hurt. He headed straight to the bathroom but stopped at the door realizing he couldn't just walk into the bathroom. He paced around for a minute thinking of what he should do, he knocked on the door and called out for Lilly but there was no reply. Rubbing his temples he began to panic a little more _ok what do I do? What do I do? Maybe she got out already._ Austin looked around the dining room some more and for some reason he couldn't phantom people had stopped trying to leave the room and in fact most people had just gone back to acting to normal.

Austin continued to scan the room for Lilly but he was caught off guard when he saw Kelsey standing outside the clear door she was banging on it trying to get his attention, Austin hadn't noticed because of all the loud noise."Austin! Austin! Come here now!" She motioned her hands for him to hurry.

He ran to the door, "Kelsey what—what's going on are you alright?"

"Austin, I've been trying to find someone to help us. Something really, really bad has happened."

What was she talking about? What the hell was going on? "Alright, slow down breathe and just tell me straight."

"Cooper's dead."

That was a sick joke to Austin; no one says that and expects a laugh so he wondered why Kelsey would say something like it. "Kelsey stop playing and just tell me what's happening."

She put her hands against the glass in a desperate way, "Austin! Cooper is dead." She wasn't joking. Austin doubled over, he felt sick like he was going to puke. "Knight and Nick found him. The guy in black stabbed him, I had to go and find someone but everyone is locked in and the rest of the crew is trapped below deck! You have to tell Lilly or someone you've got to—" Austin felt his dinner coming back up and began to walk off.

"I'll tell someone," he turned to Kelsey, "I'll find her and tell he I will I just need to—" He couldn't hold it in anymore, he ran straight into the bathroom and threw up in the toilet, when he was finished he whipped his mouth and went to the sink to wash off. It wasn't until he saw Lilly standing in the corner with her phone that he realized he had ran into the women's bathroom. "Lilly? What are you doing here?"

Lilly never looked up from her phone she was busy texting, "I'm taking care of business, Austin." She didn't sound like herself she sounded angry, but like a different person entirely.

"Is something wrong?" Something was wrong but he hadn't said a word about her brother to her. "Lilly are you alright."

Pausing, she glared at Austin for a moment then looked back down at her phone, "Are you alright?"

It scared Austin, the way she was talking to him, he thought she was different and he was right only he felt she was different in a way that wasn't right for him. "Lilly your brother is—"

"Dead I know."

Austin took a step towards her and rested his hand on your shoulder, "What are you talking about? How do you know?" He knew he should be afraid of her but he couldn't bring himself to get out of there and tell someone, he had too much hope that he never wanted to be destroyed.

Lilly put her phone inside of her purse that she was carrying around with her, Austin didn't notice until it was too late the knife she pulled back out. The blade pierced through his rib cage, he could feel the air leave his lungs and a rush of chills ran through his body. "I'm sorry love," she said.

He felt the blood leaving his body, he felt himself dying, "But why?"

She was rummaging through her bag once again but continued to speak, "Austin I wished this never had concerned you. I'll tell you though because of how I feel for you." She pulled out a black sweatshirt and slipped it on, "When my father died I barely knew him anymore, and he barely knew me. He left me nothing in his will and gave everything to my big brother Cooper. I thought he still loved me even though we grew apart with his divorce but he just forgot me. I suppose I should have grieved for him but when he died all I could feel was the unfairness and all the crap that he thought of his only daughter. He just forgot about me. Well my mom had a sit down with my brother and told him that since he was getting close to becoming an adult as well he could share everything our father left him with me. My father was a wealthy man, and soon Cooper would be too, Cooper even wrote me in his will and left me everything like that would make up for everything but it doesn't! I don't want his pity or my mother's! I just want my father to get exactly what I got which is a ruined heart and I hope he can feel it, wherever he is, when I murder his favorite child!"

Austin could barely keep his eyes open at this point; he tried to hold on longer, "You can't kill him anymore."

Lilly punched the mirror next to her, "I know that British fuck ruined it for me!" She knelt down next to Austin and held his hand, "I'm sorry love there can't be any witnesses. We're going to have to kill your friends as well." Lilly kissed Austin on his lips, covered her head in a black hood and walked away towards the bathroom door.

Austin felt desperate in that moment and tried to stand and when he couldn't he said, "Lilly please stop." But he could do no more as he felt himself slump over on the bathroom floor.

"Lilly…in the black hood…it was her and…warn others because there are—" Austin coughed up some blood.

Ethan tightened his grip on Austin's hand, "There are what buddy? Come on please tell me and just hang on, ok?" Austin held up two fingers with the rest of his strength and then dropped his arm. Ethan began to cry to himself as his friend's eyes began to shut.

"I'll stop them, I will Austin I promise." It took all of Ethan's strength to lift Austin up and out of the door. He didn't pay attention to the screams and cries of everyone on the dining room; he just lifted Austin into the hands of the adults and then began to scan the room for Lilly. She wasn't hard to spot, but Ethan nearly missed her in the black sweatshirt as she slipped into one of the kitchen doors.

Ethan ran towards the door and burst through it, no one noticed him, they were all focused on Austin. _Where did you go you bitch?_ Then he saw a trap door underneath a cart used to carry plates. Ethan didn't know where it went or if this was a trap, all he knew is that Lilly was down there and he was going to find her.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chronicles of the Carnival Dream: Chapter 11: In the Dark**

Kelsey couldn't bring herself to look at Cooper's body when Knight showed her, she ran off and immediately began searching for someone to help but all the staff were missing and the majority of the guests were in the dining room. Kelsey began banging on every door trying to wake anyone up and she ran down to the lower levels of the ship trying to find someone who could help. Although when she found dark hallways where the power went out she steered clear.

Someone grabbed her shoulder from behind, "Kelsey?" a voice said. She spun around and punched Knight in the nose. "Ouch fuck!"

Then she realized it was only Knight, "Oh god I'm sorry Knight are you alright?" She must have hit him hard because he fell onto one of his knees. She tried to put her hands on his arms or shoulders because she couldn't think of a way to help him.

"I'm fine don't worry it didn't even hurt," she took one of his hands and tried to move it away from his face to see if he was bleeding. "Ok it hurt a little bit actually that was a really good punch I'm impressed."

She thought that was funny but tried not to smile, this wasn't a time to be smiling. "Looks like you're not as tough as Ethan after all." Why was she making jokes? Her friend had just died, she needed to be serious and stop.

"Are you kidding? I wouldn't fight that guy in a million years or I would be dead man."

"Well in a million years you would be dead anyway," they laughed quietly together for a second. _What is wrong with me? Stop it you're friend just died and he was more than a friend to you why are you trying to pretend like none of this is real?_ Kelsey was screaming at herself in her mind, Knight always seemed to make her laugh or at least help her with making the air lighter, even if he had just been sobbing pathetically not too long ago he still had that effect on her. It was making her angry, now was not a time for happiness. "Knight we have to find someone to help Cooper before it's too late."

Knight looked at her in confusion, "Kelsey…Cooper is dead."

Kelsey knew that, why was she talking like there was hope for him when there wasn't. "I know that." Was all she could think to say.

Knight blinked at her in confusion, "Ok. Look, here's what we have to do. We're going to hunt down the crew members because we saw them run down to the lower decks and the rest of them will be in the giant dining room."

The thought of going down the dark corridor where the staff had gone scared Kelsey, "But it's dark down there. What if he's waiting for us?"

Knight must have noticed how scared she was because he grabbed her hands which were shaking in anxiety, "I'll go down the dark hall, you go to the dining room, ok?"

An image of Cooper's mutilated face pierced Kelsey's mind and immediately she thought of what the consequences of Knight going on his own would be. "No. No, I can't let you do that without me I'm coming with," Knight Opened his mouth to protest but Kelsey cut him off, "I'm going with you Knight." Knight just nodded and stayed silent as the two of them headed down the dark hallway.

Knight didn't know where the dark hallway would lead to, the two of them ended up going in complete circles around that deck of the ship. When they passed by the dining room for the third time Kelsey spotted Austin and decided she would be the one to break the news about Cooper despite Knight's protests. In the mean time Knight went searching for a path deeper into the pitch black corridor when finally he found a door that opened to a staircase that led down to a restricted deck at the bottom of the ship. It was colder toward the bottom of the ship usually, but here now it was hot and humid. Knight even had to fan away some warm steam from his way. He and Kelsey stuck close by as the fog got thicker toward the sound of some crew members voices.

As they walked down the stairs and came to a series of hallways and Knight felt the urge to ask even though he knew it was a bad idea. "So I've been meaning to ask you about…" what he wanted to ask about was if he and her could ever be _or something stupid like that what am I even thinking?_

"Yeah?" She asked.

"…about how Austin took the news." _Now's not the right time._

"How would you?"

"Right," Knight felt an uneasy feeling in his stomach and decided to leave the subject alone.

There was some clanging noise that came from a corridor to the left and Kelsey jumped backwards towards the wall. Knight was in between her and the wall and as a result was pinned in the center of the two. "Did you hear that?" Kelsey asked.

The wall hurt Knight and knocked the wind out of him so he didn't bother to be scared, "I didn't really notice." But what he did notice was the figure coming toward them through the steam.

Kelsey let out a small screech and grabbed onto Knight, he nearly screeched as well when he felt her nails dig into his skin. When the mysterious figure came closer to them it said, "Guys?"

It was Ethan's voice then Kelsey and Knight said at the same time, "Ethan?"

Ethan ran towards them, "Wow am I glad to see you guys." He looked the two of them up and down, "I guess you guys don't know yet." Knight realized that the appearance of him and Kelsey so close together was quite insensitive. Ironically he pushed her off of him quite insensitively.

Blushing a little and rubbing her shoulder Kelsey asked, "Know what?"

For the first time ever Knight saw something soft in Ethan when he looked down and began to tear up, "Austin's dead." Immediately Kelsey broke down in tears and dropped to her knees, Knight kneeled down to comfort her and Ethan did the same.

"What happened to him?" Knight asked Ethan.

"That bitch Lilly, you know? Cooper's sister she stabbed him for some shit reason I don't know but it has something to do with revenge on her brother." Ethan slammed his fist into the floor.

Knight was in disbelief, how could any of this be real? Why was this happening and why was it happening to him and his friends? "Cooper's dead to. The guy in black killed him."

Ethan was breathing heavily but nodded, "Actually the guy in black is a girl it's Lilly."

Knight doubted that, if his dreams had any sort of truth to them which he believed they did, the man in black was a man. "Well let's look out for anyone. And that means don't trust anyone we don't know."

"You think we know him?" Kelsey was looking straight ahead at a dark figure at the end of the hallway that was walking toward them.

"Yeah actually we do," Knight said, "Nick what are you doing here?" Last time Knight saw Nick he was refusing to leave Cooper's body.

"I came down looking for you guys," Nick sounded very relieved, Knight wondered how he was able to navigate through the dark even with the glasses. "Yeah I felt like someone was watching me so I took off. But I think someone has been following me." Just then Knight saw a shadow run behind Nick far back down the other side of the hallway.

"That's her!" Ethan shouted and ran to follow the shadow down the hallway. Nick was shoved off to the side in the process.

"Wait! Ethan stop!" Knight ran after Ethan shoving Nick off to the side once again. He didn't stop to think about his other two friends who he left behind all he could think about were his two dead friends and he wasn't ready for a third. He followed the sound of Ethan's voice and heavy breaths but they were getting farther and farther away from him in the maze of dark corridors and empty rooms. Knight finally stopped to look around, he couldn't see anything but he could hear very faintly someone banging and shouting. He followed the noise and stumbled upon a gigantic door in the floor, it was probably an even lower deck. Knight put his ear to the ground door and what he could hear was all of the crew members who had run below deck trapped and unable to escape the lowest level of this ghost ship.

Kelsey was walking with Nick looking for their friends and a way out of this place. Nick spoke up at the sound of someone's muffled screams from one of the dark rooms, "I'm going to check it out stay here."

"Wait seriously?" This was a recipe for disaster, Kelsey knew it.

Nick turned and smiled at her, "Don't worry it's me. What's the worst that could happen?" _Ask Austin and Cooper._

As Nick walked into the dark room Kelsey decided to ignore him and follow close behind anyways. As they entered the room the muffled screams got louder, they looked to the corner of the room and saw Lauren, tied up with a piece of clothe in her mouth.

There were two of them, a woman and a man in black, Ethan learned that the hard way. Lucky for him he dodged the guys crowbar and ran straight back the way he came. Now he was truly lost but at least the two murderers weren't behind him anymore. _I'll kill them when I get the chance._

"What are you doing here man?" Ethan turned to Jacob at the first sound of his voice.

"Jacob! You're alive!" The two of them embraced for a second, "Where have you been?"

"Busy looking for Lauren." Jacob looked around the darkness, "We should get out of here."

Ethan wanted to say, "No shit let's go." But all of their friends were down here, "We can't. Not yet."


End file.
